This product works reliably, but I'm still not sure why this product has such high marks.
From a functionality perspective, it's fine. But it has a lot of significant limitations that make it much less useful than it could be, or than I was expecting. Below are the problems I found, from most significant to least.
Perhaps the biggest design misfeature is the power switch. When DC power is first applied to the inverter, it does nothing. Before you get AC power (or even DC USB power), you have to push the "on" switch. If DC power is lost for any reason (because, for example, you started your engine) then AC power goes out until you push the button again. To compound things, the DC plug is rather difficult to push in, making it easy to get an intermittent connection. This makes it very easy to think that you are charging your device when actually nothing is happening.
Also, the circuit breaker seems to trip at a much lower wattage than I would expect. Now, the good news is that this happens the right way -- no need to replace fuses, or even to turn the inverter back on. But the device is marketed as a 100-watt device, and my laptop only pulls 65W when charging. But I cannot run the laptop and charge the battery at the same time -- it's one or the other.
The device makes an annoying high-pitched noise. Partly this is the fan, but I think the electronics themselves are also creating audible noise. This may be inaudible to the middle-aged, but I would guess that it might be positively loud to the teenaged. (I am in my late 20s and am not known for my good hearing). My guess is that the pseudosinusoidal circutry runs at 6000 Hz or so, and that there is enough iron in the device for eddy currents to create the noise.
Finally -- and this really is a nitpick -- the design is such that it is impossible to access the USB connector if there is a DC adapter plugged into the AC outlet. This seems trivially unnecessary, since the USB plug could easily have been located around the corner on the side of the device.
So, in conclusion, this device works fine but I have to believe that there are better products out there.
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